Through hundreds of beautiful, page-filling photographs of people, landscapes, artworks, and artifacts, accompanied by extended captions, relevant quotations, and discussions of art, religion, colonialism, slavery, and popular culture, this book captures the dazzling variety of sub-Saharan Africa. Attentive to the ways in which the West has constructed and deconstructed meanings of Africa, the text encompasses recent understandings of history to illuminate the dynamic, multicultural, and complex nature of African societies. The book includes a map of precolonial Africa, a chronology of events, and a list of the museums where visitors can view much of the art featured in the volume.